"You got that right."
"You betcha."
"Tell me about it."
"Totally."
--from an American who has seen more than a few episodes of Royal Canadian Air Farce
Posted on 01/24/2006 12:32:41 PM PST by Squawk 8888
Call it the revenge of the hockey Moms and Dads.
The font of all Canadian wisdom, as everyone knows, is the local rink. Parents huddled on cold benches, clutching cups of coffee, swapping stories about their kids, shaking their heads about those dummies up in Ottawa. Being Canadian.
Back in November, while watching my daughter play at a hockey rink in Toronto, I posted something to my Web log using my BlackBerry. On it, I suggested that the election was going to be about hockey Moms and Dads versus the elites. With Stephen Harper championing the former, and a Westmount millionaire named Paul Martin personifying the latter.
Was I right? Well, I can now reveal that -- right after I posted that observation -- I received e-mails from two senior guys in the Tory war room. They told me that's exactly what they hoped to do.
And so they did. With every photo op (particularly the one showing the Tory leader taking his kids to an Ottawa hockey rink), with every positive statement (Harper stressing his middle-class roots), with every critical statement (the continual references to Martin's millions, and his decision to fly his ships under foreign flags), the Tory campaign was all about the revenge of hockey Moms and Dads.
It wasn't about Left versus Right. It wasn't about Urban versus Rural. It wasn't about East versus West. It was about Tim Hortons versus Starbucks.
Stephen Harper won because he told the story people want to hear. We federal Liberals had lost touch -- with Canadians, with each other -- and we deserved to lose. If you'll forgive the obvious metaphor, we deserved some time in the penalty box, and now we're going to get it.
Harper's whole campaign was about what political types call "retail" -- street-level, pocketbook stuff, aimed at regular folks. His advertising campaign was deliberately downmarket, too: especially the famous coffee shop ad, complete with ordinary folk shaking their heads about Liberal perfidy. It wasn't fancy, but it did the trick. The Tory leader proudly left the glossy, rich-looking Madison Avenue bafflegab to the Liberals.
The aforementioned photo of the PM-elect taking his kids to a rink in the family van was, to me, the beginning of the end for Martin. Canadian parents saw that photo and murmured: "That's me. He knows my life." At around the same time, they started to suspect Paul Martin has never struggled to balance mortgage payments and the hydro bill. Ever.
But what about the Liberals? Why did the hockey Moms and Dads reject Martin after once rewarding the Liberals with three back-to-back majorities?
Besides beer and popcorn? Besides RCMP criminal investigations? Besides comparing people to animals? Besides offering us no policy whatsoever? Besides looking tired and old? Besides the attack ad that defamed the military, while our soldiers are risking their lives for the rest of us in Afghanistan?
Those things were important, to be sure, but I believe the main impetus for change came mid-campaign, over the holidays. Families gathered at the end of December, and they came to a collective decision: We want change, and if Stephen Harper is the only way to achieve that, so be it. Pass the cranberries.
Canadians also saw what those Liberals who'd worked in the Jean Chretien years had seen, when Martin was minister of finance. Many of us who worked for Chretien -- with the exception of three senior men in the leader's office, all of whom now regret their miscalculation, or should -- regarded Martin as irredeemably weak, and willing to say anything, absolutely anything, to please whomever walked through his doorway.
In any event, none of that matters now. Paul Martin is on his way out, and Harper will be around for quite a few years to come. Should we be anxious about that? I don't think so. I don't fear Stephen Harper, and neither should you. This is the greatest country in the world, and I believe -- I know -- he wants to make it better, just like the rest of us do.
Let's give Harper his chance. If nothing else, it'll give us all something to talk about at the rink this weekend, won't it?
(((.)))
The writer got the last line wrong; they are suppose to start saying he lied, trees died etc. what is this give em a chance bull
bump
Paul Martin's off shore bank transactions and Oil for Food via Chiraq and his son was just sweetener for the Starbucks coffee:)
Now will the Tories bring Canada back from socialism?
"You got that right."
"You betcha."
"Tell me about it."
"Totally."
--from an American who has seen more than a few episodes of Royal Canadian Air Farce
oops, forgot Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
I know- imagine that, a senior Liberal strategist who respects the voters. What's wrong with this picture?
"Besides the attack ad that defamed the military, while our soldiers are risking their lives for the rest of us in Afghanistan?"
Whoa.
It says a couple of things:
(a) how messed up Canadian liberals are; and
(b) how messed up Canada in general is if a major political party can conclude that such an ad is likely to work.
So what was the ad?
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
The mainstream Canadian political spectrum isn't that broad.
Here's an old joke that might illustrate things:
Liberals said vote for me - we will take care of you from Birth to Death.
Conservatives not to be outdone said - vote for us we will take care of you from the Womb to Tomb.
NDP said don't listen to them we will do better - we will take care of you from Erection to Resurrection.
(BTW -- I remembered it, but wanted to check the exact wording -- found this on "The Roadkill Diaries" blog.)
The Libs ran an ad claiming that Stephen Harper wanted to send armed soldiers into the streets of our cities. It backfired big time, becoming the most-parodied campaign ad ever.
Canada Ping!
Please FReepmail me to get on or off this Canada ping list.
Well, I guess he's entitled to his opinion. Starbucks aside (I happen to like it), in a functioning democracy, those who tune out their constiuents get turned out. Maybe we should take their cue, and look at our own upcoming congressional primaries. Who are the reps who still listen to us? Who are carrying on as if we are irrelevant?
If we don't vote our principles, we will become irrelevant..
No way.
Priceless!
Wow.
I'm just trying to imagine a Democrat in the U.S. saying this the night after Bush won the 2000 election versus Al Gore.... And, I just can't see a single one of them saying anything this classy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.